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Weather: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- Tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
No Drug Court today. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry: Flagler Beach United Methodist Church‘s food pantry is open today from 9:30 a.m. to noon at 1500 S. Daytona Ave, Flagler Beach. The church’s mission is to provide nourishment and support in a welcoming, respectful environment. To find us, please turn at the corner of 15 Street and S. Daytona Ave, pull into the grass parking area and enter the green door.
“The Sound of Music” at Athens Theatre, 7:30 p.m. except Sunday, 2:30 p.m., 124 North Florida Avenue, DeLand, (386) 736-1500. Cost: Adult $37, Senior $33, Student/Child $17, groups of 8 or more $30 per ticket, all including processing charge. Book here. As the world begins to change, one woman brings something the von Trapp family hasn’t known in a long time—joy. When Maria steps into their lives, she brings laughter, music, and a renewed sense of connection—just as the world outside their home begins to shift in dangerous ways. In a time of rising fear and uncertainty, their bond becomes an anchor—and their courage, a quiet form of resistance. The Sound of Music is a timeless story of love, family, and standing up for what truly matters, brought to life with one of the most beloved scores in musical theatre history. Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Run time: 2 hours and 45 minutes with a 15-minute intermission
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
Notably: We’ll be hearing and reading about Satchel Walton, if not reading him plenty, assuming he doesn’t fall prey to the temptations of editing. I happened by his last column for the Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, which has a bigger staff and more ambitious reporting than th News-Journal these days. Walton started newspapering almost a decade ago in high school and has since made his mark at the Tar Heel, spending part of his undergrad time at Oxford, where he was deputy editor in chief there, and getting an internship as a Mencken Research Fellow. “When I was born, about 380,000 Americans were employed by print newspapers. There were 150,000 when I started high school. It’s fewer than 80,000 now,” he writes. That’s not his main concern. “After eight years in journalism, I’m worried about the truth.” That’s his column’s headline. His most clever paragraph: “If Woodward and Bernstein were young, intrepid reporters today, they could be among the 300 Washington Post journalists who were laid off in February.” He’s worried that the business model today doesn’t support journalism, and when it does, not enough people seek it out to be better informed, to be better citizens, to prevent… well, you know what we’re trying to prevent. He’s trying not to be too bleak. His mere existence and career choice argues against his point. So does he: “There’s nothing so gratifying as publishing a big piece and having people tell me that they got something out of
it. Fundamentally, there’s no other forum where my work has been as meaningful and useful.” The readers are there. That there aren’t enough of them has always been true. Journalism is changing. It isn’t ending. It up to us–it’s up to you, Satchel Walton, to find its next path. Screw existing models. Make your own. The truth will find a way.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
May 2026
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Story Time with Miss Kim at Flagler Beach Public Library
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast Democratic Club Recap Meeting
Town of Marineland Commission Meeting
Third Thursday Together in Flagler Beach
“Once on This Island,” At Limelight Theatre
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Friday Blue Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
“Once on This Island,” At Limelight Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
But it wasn’t long ago when many believed that society would work better as knowledge became more accessible online. A widespread belief stemming from educated circles in the early 2010s was that more information, digital connection and globalization would lead us to more peace, tolerance and good government. In middle school, we were told that our grandparents might fall for anything they saw online, but our digitalnative generation would be able to discern fact from fiction and put the previously inaccessible swathes of information to good use. How foolish that seems now. Instead, the online flood of information and noise seems to have drowned out the truth. At the click of the keyboard, Americans have access to all manner of knowledge: minutes from town council meetings, detailed statistics on economic trends and scientific studies are a Google search away. But too few members of our society seem to value such things. At the top levels of government, the “truth” hardly seems to matter. Does it matter if an American who was wrestled to the ground and shot dead in the streets of Minneapolis was a “domestic terrorist” trying to kill ICE officers, or if he was filming with a cell phone? Does it matter why our country is at war (excuse me — conducting a “military operation”) against Iran, or what it has accomplished or when it will end? The answers to those questions coming from the White House seem to change each day. They can get away with this because too few of their citizens and potential voters stop to demand the truth.
–From Satchel Walton’s “After eight years in journalism, I’m worried about the truth,” Daily Tar Heel, April 22, 2026.
Ed P says
Hello Ray W,
Following your comments of late, some might think you have drifted off into the weeds by commenting on energy and autos. I think I get it. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
The current political debate has devolved into the cesspool of hatred and vial name calling. People even here on Flagler live are justifying and approving of social murder. Policy or results are ignored and irrelevant, so what’s the point? Am I getting warm?
You inject your criticism indirectly and almost subconsciously, staying above the fray, distancing yourself from the nonsense. A personal resistance to rhetoric.
If I’m correct, I applaud you but warn it falls on deaf ears.
My gut tells me, much of the community doesn’t read past line 2 or 3. I say that based on their blunt force trauma style of responses.
I continue to follow you because you bring information and conceptual understanding from a different perspective.
As radical as comments are becoming, it’s increasingly difficult to respond in a meaningful way. Debate or discussion of differing ideas is elusive. Everything is binary and being viewed through radical lenses. Moderation and manors don’t exist.
This same political rot would never allow us ( the Flagler Live community ) to establish a friendship, yet we are neighbors who possibly cross paths in our daily lives.
Feels childish and foolish. Actually useless.
Laurel says
Let’s see now. Pete Hegseth put all the top Generals in one room to lecture them. That, I think, was incredibly stupid.
So next is the journalists’ event, which Trump was supposed to talk at. What was he supposed to say? He hates reporters (except those who worship him), he hates immigrants, he hates Democrats, he hates wind turbines, women are piggies? Wow, that sounds inspiring!
All the top cabinet members are at a room in the Hilton. All those who would be next in succession, should there be a disasterous outcome, were present, making them ALL targets too. A man runs past the Secret Service checkpoint, with no shirt on at a formal event, barely (literally) noticed, the guy fell down, THEN was captured!
Trump gets three opportunities: 1.) A pitch at us taxpayers paying for his ballroom. 2.) His pitiful ratings tend to increase after an assassination attempt. 3.) Another shot at Jimmy Kimmel!
Yeah, I have about a 78% problem with this action being a setup.
So, the question is: Is bringing the President, and all top cabinet members to a room at the Hilton a setup, or, are they all just that stupid? Which do you believe? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Sherry says
Thank you Laurel! An excellent comment!
Laurel says
Actually, later I saw the video of the suspect running past the checkpoint, and he wasn’t half naked. He had on a full suit, shirt and tie, running like a fool with an AKwhatever! What was actually comical, if you will, was he ran with arms and legs flailing in all directions, right, smack through the medal detector and past the Secret Service! Not around the sides, but right through the arch! You know, that was the path! The SS guy shot point blank at him, close by, five times and missed each time! It reminded me of the “Naked Gun” movies. What’s your vector, Victor? The next thing you know, the suspect had fallen, caught and was half naked! What?
The more I know about this incident, the weirder it gets. While everyone was ducking under the tables, or running out escorted by the Secret Service like RFK, who left his wife behind to trail him on her own, another man sat at his table and continued to eat! A little later, a woman was seen grabbing the wine bottles off a table. Some other guy, interviewed soon after stated the whole thing was “awesome!”
Ray W. says
First quarter 2026 GDP data is out. The “advance estimate” (it will be revised twice in coming reports) is 2.0% GDP growth.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Prior to the release of the BEA data, Reuters reported that our goods trade deficit for March grew to $87.9 billion, up 5.3% over February’s Census Bureau data.
The reporter wrote that this 5.3% jump in the goods trade deficit would act as a drag on GDP, because additional American money was flowing out of the national economy. This drag on GDP actually happened in the first quarter of 2025, when goods imports surged after President Trump announced his intent to impose his tariff policies, starting in April. American importers immediately spent billions and billions of dollars on foreign goods in order to beat the oncoming tariffs and first-quarter 2025 GDP activity actually fell to negative 0.5%. There is an economic model that posits that sending large amounts of money out of the country can act as a drag on GPD.
More granular Census Bureau numbers have goods imports in March rising by $9.6 billion over February’s figure, to $299.3 billion. Goods exports rose by $5.2 billion over February’s figure, to $211.5 billion.
At first glance by a curious student, 2.0% GDP growth cannot be said to be a bad economic figure. Positive economic growth in an inflationary economy that is creating comparatively fewer and fewer jobs has to be thought of as a measure of health. Perhaps moderate health. Maybe even poor health. But not yet systemic economic illness. Maybe I am wrong.
Ray W. says
Earlier today, the Commerce Department released its March 2026 personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index inflation figures, both for the month and for the rolling 12-month average.
PCE inflation was 0.7% last month. The rolling 12-month figure was 3.5%.
“Core” PCE inflation, excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, was 0.3%, with the rolling 12-month figure coming in at 3.2%.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
None of these figures should be thought of as good. The Fed’s target inflation figure is 2%. Economists claim that, to Fed officials, “core” PCE inflation is the most persuasive of all of the many economic reports that come out weekly or monthly or quarterly. If this economic claim is so, “core” PCE inflation continuing its long steady acceleration from a rolling 12-month average of 2.3% last April cannot simply be shrugged off as temporary or transitory.
Pogo says
Or maybe they do know the truth
…and bet against it — their conscience (archaic theoretical construct anyway — right?) subordinated to casting lots to buy wine and song:
https://www.google.com/search?q=youth+engagement+prediction+market
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
— Ecclesiastes 11:9, KJV
Ray W. says
Carscoops predicted in a December 2025 story that, should government tax subsidies to individual Chinese EV purchasers be cut, as many as 50 of China’s EV carmakers might either close or be absorbed by other companies by the end of 2026. From what is being published out of China, two of the government tax subsidies on EV purchases have been either reduced or eliminated.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
A great winnowing may soon decimate the Chinese personal transport industry. Two years ago, some 150 carmakers competed in the rapidly growing sector, including foreign carmakers that had partnered with Chinese carmakers. A brutal price war among manufacturers emerged. The total number of carmakers, in time, may dwindle to as few as ten or twelve companies, but if the market continues to expand beyond the 31 million units delivered in 2025, the market might be big enough to support that many carmakers even without government tax subsidies.
As an aside, numerous studies show that American state and federal governments continue to subsidize our fossil fuel industry to the tune of some $15 to $20 billion per year.
Ray W. says
Reuters reports that Volkswagen’s CEO is considering sharing of some of the company’s idled European factory space with one or more of its Chinese automobile manufacturing partners. VW has joint ventures with three Chinese carmakers and it has invested in a fourth such company.
The CEO commented that it would consider allowing use of factory space for a Chinese partner to build vehicles in segments that VW doesn’t currently produce vehicles.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
If VW doesn’t already produce micro-minicars, could the company make money by reopening an idled factory and partnering with a Chinese company that does? What about transit vans?
Sherry says
trump’s policies are already responsible for contributing to the unnecessary deaths of “hundred of thousands” of innocent people. Projections estimate MILLIONS more to die, due to trump’s policies, within the next 25 years! Take a good read of this AI analysis . . . if only say 10% of this is accurate. . . this avoidable tragedy is a genocide of a different sort, and beyond reprehensible!! How is it that we have allowed trump to spend “Billions”daily on a (stalemated) war, after MASSIVE cuts to “Humanitarian Aid” which has already led to the deaths of an estimated 600,000 innocent people???
Excess Annual Deaths: A 2021 Lancet Commission report estimated that approximately 461,000 excess deaths occurred annually during the first term of the Trump administration compared to the mortality rates of other G7 nations. For example:
* COVID-19 Response: Studies suggest that 40% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths during 2020—roughly 130,000 to 210,000 lives—could have been averted with an earlier and more robust federal response.
Environmental Rollbacks:
* The rollback of environmental and workplace protections, such as clean air standards, was linked to roughly 22,000 excess deaths in 2019 alone. Further modeling suggests that current rollbacks could lead to 200,000 early deaths in the U.S. over the next 25 years due to increased pollution.
Nutrition and Social Services:
* Proposed and enacted cuts to programs like SNAP (food stamps) are projected to cause approximately 93,000 premature deaths by 2039 due to increased food insecurity.
Global and Humanitarian Impact:
* USAID Shutdown (2025): The abrupt closure of USAID in July 2025 is linked to an estimated 600,000 deaths in the following year due to the loss of lifesaving health and food aid.
* Long-term Global Aid Projections: Researchers estimate that the dismantling of U.S. foreign aid programs could result in 14 million additional deaths globally by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under the age of five.
* Climate Change: Modeling of increased carbon emissions resulting from the administration’s “anti-green” agenda suggests a long-term toll of 1.3 million additional climate-related deaths by 2115.
Immigration and Border Enforcement Migrant Fatalities:
*Humanitarian groups have reported at least 100 migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border since the start of 2025, though officials note that precise, border-wide totals are difficult to verify due to reporting lags.
Sherry says
A Poll on the horrific cost of the war from “The Hill”:
Do you think the Pentagon’s $25B cost estimate for the Iran war has been warranted or unwarranted for the US thus far?
Not warranted at all
62%
Totally warranted
25%
Somewhat warranted
9%
Other / No opinion
4%
Based on 1,001 responses
Sherry says
Regarding trump’s photo on passports. . . 75% disapprove. . . in this poll from “The Hill”:
Do you think it’s appropriate or inappropriate for President Trump’s likeness to be included in the design of US passports?
Inappropriate
75%
Appropriate
12%
I’m not sure
5%
Other / No opinion
8%
Based on 950 responses
Ray W. says
Hello Mr. Tristam.
Thank you for the excerpt from the Daily Tar Heel editorial column. For two years, I read the Daily Tar Heel in the undergraduate student library off the Quad. Fond memories.
Good question raised by Satchel Walton. Do too few citizens and potential voters stop to take the time to demand of themselves and of others the truth?
A recent FlaglerLive commenter posted the idea that undocumented immigrants cannot obtain a social security number. It followed, the commenter argued, that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes.
The commenter, had he or she stopped to take the time to demand the truth, could have searched his or her engine of choice for the answer. He or she would quickly have learned the truth that, by administrative order, since July 1996, undocumented immigrants can apply for and obtain an “individual taxpayer identification number” (ITIN), by which number the immigrant can pay into the Treasury without the normally corresponding ability to withdraw future benefits unless naturalization takes place.
Whether the FlaglerLive commenter was ignorant of the ITIN option and simply unintentionally misinformed the FlaglerLive community or whether the commenter knew of the ITIN option and actively disinformed the FlaglerLive community may never be known, but either way a falsehood was perpetrated. Who knows how many FlaglerLive readers absorbed the false claim? WHO knows how many FlaglerLive readers are now convinced that a lie is the truth?
Millions and millions of undocumented immigrant workers pay into a system from which they will never receive benefits unless they find a pathway filled with obstacles to citizenship.
Make no misunderstanding. Our fiscal Treasury depends on the undocumented. Our local economies depend on the undocumented. Employers large and small depend on the undocumented. The undocumented earn and spend freely. They are a positive economic force. They punch above their economic weight class. A recent wide-ranging 20-year study by the CATO Institute, building on the framework of an earlier study, concluded that the positive fiscal impact of the documented and undocumented immigrants among us was $14.5 trillion, meaning that our federal debt today would be $14.5 trillion higher than it is had they not been present.
If only the vengeful and hateful and dishonest among us would stop and take the time to demand of themselves the truth!
Pogo says
Hi Ray
Indisputably, Satchel Walton, is exemplary and worthy of attention; but this is true too:
Or maybe they do know the truth (added here, “they” being “college age” college students)
…and bet against it — their conscience (archaic theoretical construct anyway — right?) subordinated to casting lots to buy wine and song:
https://www.google.com/search?q=youth+engagement+prediction+market
Trump’s increased support among young males was a decisive factor in the disastrous 2024 election.
“…If only the vengeful and hateful and dishonest among us would stop and take the time to demand of themselves the truth!”
Amen. If only; sadly, the worst, most destructive, aspects of individuals are the hardest to change — and survival itself is now the stakes — the nihilists are all to happy for company.
https://www.google.com/search?q=the+nihilists+are+all+to+happy+for+company
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Sherry says
Now let’s take a look at an AI analysis of what undocumented immigrants “PAY” in income taxes compared to “Billionaires”:
Effective Tax Rate Comparison Recent analyses show that undocumented immigrants often contribute a larger portion of their income to taxes compared to billionaires, whose wealth often comes from non-taxable assets like unrealized capital gains.
Undocumented Immigrants:Federal Effective Rate: Approximately 5.27%.State & Local Effective Rate: Approximately 8.9% to 10.1%.Combined Effective Rate: Roughly 26.1% of their total income, which is nearly identical to the rate paid by the median U.S. citizen.
Billionaires/Wealthiest 1%:Top 25 Richest Americans: In some periods, their effective tax rate has been as low as 3.4% relative to their total wealth growth, and their income tax rate averaged roughly 16% over five years.Top 1% State/Local Rate: Averaged 7.2%, lower than the 8.9% rate paid by undocumented residents in 40 states.
Key Differences in Tax Contributions Program Eligibility: Undocumented immigrants paid $33.9 billion toward Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance in 2022, despite being legally barred from ever accessing these benefits.
Ineligible for Credits: Unlike many U.S. citizens, undocumented filers (using ITINs) are generally ineligible for the Child Tax Credit (CTC) or Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which often lowers effective rates for other low-income workers.
Corporate Comparison: In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid more in federal taxes than 55 mega-corporations, which paid just $3.7 billion on $200 billion in collective income.
Laurel says
Thank you Sherry.
Even so, poor folks, in poor states, with old trucks held together with bungee cords will continue to defend a coastal, elite man, born with a silver spoon, who never held a regular job a day in his life, with five military deferments, to the ends of their days.
The amygdala working overtime.